Must All Then Amount To But This

"Must All Then Amount To But This" is a musical setting of Walt Whitman's original poem "As the Time Draws Nigh" by Jonathan Bailey Holland. The setting, which is scored for medium voice and piano, was published in 2013.

Date: 2013Composer: Jonathan Bailey HollandText: Walt Whitman

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AS the time draws nigh glooming a cloud,
A dread beyond of I know not what darkens me.
I shall go forth,
I shall traverse the States awhile, but I cannot tell whither or how
long,
Perhaps soon some day or night while I am singing my voice will
suddenly cease.
O book, O chants! must all then amount to but this?
Must we barely arrive at this beginning of us?—and yet it is
enough, O soul;
O soul, we have positively appear’d—that is enough.

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